


A Red River of Screams

by danrdarrenc



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 18:08:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2238483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danrdarrenc/pseuds/danrdarrenc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where the baby secret never came out. Will watches Nick and Gabi raise Arianna and Will slowly dies inside every day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Red River of Screams

Will hears from Sami that she heard from Rafe that Gabi and Nick are having a girl.

He smiles hollowly and chokes out a weak “That’s wonderful. I’m sure Gabi’s thrilled.” He knows his mother mistakes the tears in his eyes as happiness for his friend and cousin.

Later, when he’s alone and he’s sure his brother and sisters are asleep, Will curls into a ball on his bed and cries until exhaustion overwhelms him.

*****************************************************  
Will and Sonny are laughing together in the coffee shop when Maggie pops in on her way to the hospital. She informs them that Gabi’s in labor and should be giving birth soon.

When she asks if they want to come with her, Will politely but painfully declines her invitation before Sonny can accept it.

After she leaves, Will explains to Sonny that it should just be the parents and the immediate family there when the baby is born. Sonny nods in agreement and shuffles off to get another cup of coffee.

He never sees Will’s smile falter or the silent tears that fall down his face.

*****************************************************

Will drags himself to the christening Nick and Gabi have for the baby at St. Luke’s Church. He sits with his hand clasped tightly in one of Sonny’s as his uncle performs the ceremony and the baby’s name officially becomes Arianna Maria Fallon.

Will squeezes Sonny’s hand to keep himself anchored, to keep himself from crying. Sonny looks at him and smiles. 

Will thinks maybe Sonny thinks he’s imagining them being up there one day with their own child. Right now it’s not something Will can even consider.

****************************************************

Will distances himself from Gabi and Nick when Gabi starts nattering on about all the firsts the baby’s been having: her first words, how she’s starting to crawl, her first few teeth are poking through her gums, the first time she stands up on her own, the first time she takes a step.

When the baby begins to make appearances in the pub, Will slowly stops going, opting instead to spend his time at Common Grounds with Sonny and away from the daughter who isn’t his.

Sonny doesn’t question the change in Will’s routine, choosing to believe that Will just wants to spend more time with him and that the coffee is better than at the pub.

****************************************************

Arianna is almost four when Will and Sonny get married. After much pleading, Nick and Gabi reluctantly agree to let her be a flower girl at the wedding. No one will ask why; Nick is Will’s cousin and Allie and Sydney are slightly too old by now to be flower girls.

Will watches from the foyer of the church as Allie and Sydney (whom Sami had convinced to participate in their brother’s wedding by showing them pretty dresses) lead a waddling Arianna down the aisle. He smiles to himself as she throws little flowers to the guests seated in the pews.

His eyes water when Nick scoops her up, plops her in his lap, and kisses the top of her brunette head. Sonny notices the tears in his eyes and asks what’s wrong. Will shakes and his head and replies simply that he’s just happy he’s marrying the love of his life.

****************************************************

Will is leaving Salem Elementary School from having dropped off the twins and Sydney when he bumps into Nick and Gabi and Arianna. Arianna is clinging tightly to Gabi’s leg and Will realizes it’s her first day of kindergarten.

He gives the three of them a strained smile and hurries away. He has no desire to hear Gabi’s platitudes or watch them see her off with tears in their eyes when he can’t be a part of it.

***************************************************

Over the next few years, Will somehow manages to avoid seeing Arianna too often, despite the small town in which they live. He suffers the most during the holidays, especially Christmas, when it’s Nick hanging her ornament every year instead of him.

He hopes he’s been able to mask his feelings enough to not let his hurt show. 

***************************************************

Arianna is ten when Will and Sonny adopt their son. Nick and Gabi are at the pub with her when they walk in, Sonny cradling their new baby in his arms. She pushes her way through the mass of Bradys, Hortons, and Kiriakises who are crowded around and cooing over the bundle of blankets.

Will looks down when he feels a tug on his shirt and finds Arianna’s big blue eyes (The eyes she got from me, Will thinks to himself) staring up at him. He bends down so they’re eye-level and he smiles when she asks him what everyone is looking at.

He motions for Sonny to crouch down so she can see the baby. Will laughs when she tentatively holds out a finger, wary to touch, but intrigued by the little person in Sonny’s arms. He nearly cries out in a mixture of joy and despair when the baby wraps a tiny finger around Arianna’s outstretched one.

He nearly tells everyone then and there that Arianna is the baby’s big sister but he doesn’t. He can’t. He never can.

Instead he clenches his jaw and bites his tongue when Gabi gently leads Arianna away with the pretext of leaving Will and Sonny and the baby to their family.

****************************************************

Will manages to keep Arianna off his mind as he watches his son grow up. He beams happily every time he witnesses a first with Zack that he missed out on with her.

He admits to himself only once that he’s glad he gets to share all of this with Sonny instead of Gabi. He feels ashamed after, disgusted with himself because he loves Arianna as much as he loves Zack, even if it’s just from afar.

He still finds himself catching glimpses of Arianna’s life, hears snippets of things from Maggie or Rafe. But he knows he made the right decision all those years ago, letting her grow up with one family.

****************************************************

He’s done well convincing himself that because of Zack he’s let go of Arianna. Until he walks into Horton Town Square and sees her kissing a boy.

She’s sixteen now and he knows she has every right to be dating someone but it stops him dead in his tracks.

He blinks in confusion for a couple seconds before he takes a deep breath and walks past them. He resists the urge to break them apart and interrogate the boy. That’s not his right. He’s not her father.

When he walks out of the Square Will wonders briefly if Nick and Gabi have given their approval to the relationship.

****************************************************

Will sits at a table in the pub helping Zack with homework way too difficult for a ten-year old when Arianna comes rushing in, her face alight with joy. He notices for the first time just how much she looks like Gabi, but with his skin tone and blue eyes. 

She runs behind the counter with a flourish and pounces on Gabi (who by now is manager of the pub), enveloping her in a tight hug.

Will buries his face in Zack’s math problems, tries not hear what Gabi and Arianna are discussing. The pub is small and quiet though and, despite his efforts, he overhears that Arianna is engaged. 

He drops the pencil he was using to show Zack the multiplication tables and Gabi looks over at him. She frowns but he smiles sweetly at her, picks up the pencil, and turns his attention back to his son.

He attempts to abate the tightness that suddenly grips his heart by drinking a glass of water.

***************************************************

Will forces himself to go to Arianna’s wedding at St. Luke’s Church. He sits very stiffly and with his hand clasped tightly in one of Sonny’s, his other arm resting on the back of the pew behind Zack.

He clenches his jaw when the music begins to play and the doors in the back open to reveal Arianna, her arm draped through Nick’s. She looks beautiful in her perfect dress, her hair done up with curls gently framing her face. She glows with happiness and Will squeezes Sonny’s hand to keep himself anchored, to keep himself from crying. 

He watches hollowly as Nick gives Arianna away to her groom. He doesn’t miss the slight smirk Nick gives him as he goes to sit down and Will stares daggers at him, angry and upset with himself, with Nick, with Gabi for the first time in years that they’d ever come up with this plan.

Later, when Zack is asleep and he doesn’t think Sonny is looking, Will lets silent tears fall down his face. But Sonny is looking, Sonny does does notice.

When Sonny asks what’s wrong, Will breaks. He tells the whole story, everything that happened from when he made the awful mistake of sleeping with Gabi, to when they found out she was pregnant, to how Nick and Gabi convinced him to go along with their plan and how he stupidly agreed. How he’s secretly been watching his daughter grow up, how he’s wanted for years to be a part of her life, how he’s hurt a little inside every day because he got too deep into the lie that he couldn’t get out of it. How he let her go slightly when they adopted Zack and realized he hadn’t when he first saw Arianna kissing her now-husband. How above everything else he wishes more than anything that he could have been the one to give her away at her wedding.

Sonny doesn’t judge him, doesn’t spit out harsh or angry words. Instead he wraps his arms around Will and lets him cry. He gently rocks him back and forth and kisses his forehead, holds on tight, becomes the support he knows Will has needed for the last twenty years.

When Will’s eyes have run dry and his breathing has returned to normal, Sonny encourages him to go to sleep. Will agrees, his body aching from emotional exhaustion, and profusely thanks Sonny for not walking out on him. Sonny saddens, wonders briefly if that fear had kept Will from telling him the truth years ago, and assures Will that he loves him with all his heart, that he understands why he did what he did and why he couldn’t say anything.

Will kisses him hard and settles into his pillow and under the covers. As he watches him sleep, Sonny vows to let Nick and Gabi have a piece of his mind, let them know how much they’ve hurt Will and how awful he thinks they are for having pressured Will into giving away his rights to his daughter.


End file.
